Two Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in Three Weeks Destroy Homes in Pasco County, Florida
Battery fires in Zephyrhills and New Port Richey destroyed two homes, killed a dog and displaced six people between Aug. 31 and Sept. 18.
FL
In 2025, fire departments serving Clearwater responded to 686 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,276 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 703 | — | |
| 2022 | 929 | +32.1% | |
| 2023 | 657 | -29.3% | |
| 2024 | 1,301 | +98.0% | |
| 2025 | 686 | -47.3% |
For the 89 building fires Clearwater departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 884 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 147 | 16.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 116 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 112 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 103 | 11.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 48 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 42 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 35 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 30 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 23 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 206 | 23.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Clearwater mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 547 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 81 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 45 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 32 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 23 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Candle | 14 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 14 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 67 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clearwater departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clearwater sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
76 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 18 | |
| 30-39 | 29 | |
| 40-49 | 17 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,272 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,500 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 1,427 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 1,300 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,287 | 22.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,000 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 900 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 812 | 45.6 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Clearwater. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clearwater.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.